‘WX 87’ is a new waxflower plant that originated as a seedling produced in a sexual breeding program conducted by the breeder at Medina and South Perth, Western Australia. ‘WX 87’ was selected from seedlings of a controlled pollination of female parent Chamelaucium uncinatum ‘BP Pale’ (not patented) by male parent C. megalopetalum ‘CM 11.1’ (not patented) at Medina, Western Australia. An embryo was excised from fruit produced in November 2001 and germinated in vitro. The resulting seedling was subcultured in tissue culture four times, deflasked, hardened and planted in the field at Medina, Western Australia in July 2002. Following flowering in July 2003, the seedling was vegetatively propagated via cuttings and a second generation of cuttings was taken in 2009 at Medina, Western Australia. Growth and flowering records of the generations were recorded from 2003 to 2010. No off-types were recorded and all plants were found to be uniform and stable.
‘WX 87’ is distinguishable from its female parent ‘BP Pale’ by a number of features, as described in Table 1 below:
TABLE 1CharacteristicBP PaleWX 87Flower colourPale purple to purpleWhiteLeaf cross-sectionRoundedFlattened triangularFlower: attitude of petalsHorizontalSemi-erect to erectFlower: colour of Pink-purpleYellowhypanthium
‘WX 87’ is distinguishable from its male parent ‘CM11.1’ by a number of features, as described in Table 2 below:
TABLE 2CharacteristicCM11.1WX 87Leaf lengthShortMediumPlant heightShortMedium-tallFlower diameterLargeMedium
‘WX 87’ is also distinguishable from other known waxflower varieties. Comparisons of ‘WX 87’ to ‘Ivory Pearl’ (not patented) and ‘WX 74’ (patent pending), the most similar varieties of common knowledge, are set forth in Tables 3 and 4 below:
TABLE 3CharacteristicIvory PearlWX 87Leaf lengthLongShortLeaf cross-sectionRoundFlattened/triangularPedicel lengthMedium to longShort to mediumFlower diameterMedium to largeMedium
TABLE 4CharacteristicWX 74WX 87Leaf lengthShort to mediumMediumFlower: color of hypanthiumYellow-greenYellowCalyx tube furrowingWeakMediumTime of beginning of floweringMediumMedium to late